As soon as the wrap party of "Xianyuan" was over, Jiang Se immediately flew directly from Suzhou to Italy.
Two months ago, when Jiang Se was still filming "Xianyuan", Xia Chaoqun had already received news from ELYSEES that the advertising plan had been finalized. As soon as Jiang Se finished filming in late September, he would fly to Italy to prepare for the shooting of the ELYSEES advertisement.
Both Jiang Se and ELYSEES attach great importance to this advertisement. Jiang Se rarely appeared in public during the filming and did not pay much attention to some media opinions.
However, the news about her being the spokesperson for ELYSEES has been spreading all over the Internet. After Huaxia Information released a little gimmick to attract public attention, many Chinese netizens were skeptical at first.
However, as the three parties involved in the incident remained silent and did not come out to explain or clarify, many sharp-eyed netizens have already smelled some clues.
The official website of ELYSEES is currently filled with a large number of angry insults from Tao Cen's fans. The most serious one is probably the joint boycott of ELYSEES by a group of Chinese socialites and wives.
Led by the wife and daughter of Zhou Wei, the CEO of Jingtai Real Estate, they publicly opposed ELYSEES's move to replace or add spokespersons at a charity auction they attended earlier.
Both mother and daughter are die-hard fans of Tao Cen. ELYSEES first entered China ten years ago. After Tao Cen became its brand spokesperson, in addition to publicly stating several times that Tao Cen's temperament is a perfect match with the brand image of ELYSEES, she also puts it into practice. Among the vehicles collected at home, there are almost every model released by ELYSEES. She can be said to be a very supportive consumer of the ELYSEES brand.
Under the leadership of Mrs. Zhou, many wives in the Chinese capital have purchased ELYSEES cars.
It is precisely because of the existence of Tao Cen's fans with strong purchasing power that more than 60% of ELYSEES' sales after entering China were supported. Therefore, in the sixth year of Tao Cen's endorsement of ELYSEES, ELYSEES company gave Tao Cen a car as a gift as a honor, which caused quite a stir at the time.
Now, Mrs. Zhou and her close friends have jointly boycotted ELYSEES's decision to use Jiang Se as its spokesperson, which will have a great impact on ELYSEES's sales.
As the world's top sports car brand, ELYSEES's cars are still mainly high-end sports cars. With the inheritance of brand culture and craftsmanship, the prices are still not affordable for ordinary people, and its main service targets are still the wealthy class.
The boycott by Mrs. Zhou and other well-known wealthy wives in China has brought some pressure to ELYSEES.
Thanks to his friendship with Piech, Xia Chaoqun also has some understanding of some of the internal situations of ELYSEES company.
ELYSEES's vehicle sales and purchases by wealthy individuals account for more than 60 percent of the Chinese market share, so one can imagine how serious the remarks made by Mrs. Zhou and others are.
In recent months, ELYSEES' sales have declined significantly. In fact, this time ELYSEES's change of spokesperson in China has a certain impact and impact on the ELYSEES brand.
Currently, the brand is placing its focus on the commercial shot by Jiang Se, and only hopes that after the commercial is released, it can make up for its disadvantages and increase car sales.
This is an opportunity and also a gamble.
Tao Cen's advantage is too great. In the minds of many Chinese people, her brand image can be said to be tied together with that of ELYSEES. In the minds of most wealthy wives, headed by Mrs. Zhou, they instinctively think that Jiang Se is a latecomer.
In terms of her age, status and background, many socialites and ladies thought she was very different from Tao Cen.
Although Jiang Se has become famous in recent years with several movies, Mrs. Zhou still feels that her foundation is too weak, and her temperament and family are not enough to support the endorsement of ELYSEES, not to mention that Mrs. Zhou and her daughter are fans of Tao Cen and will psychologically favor Tao Cen.
If Jiang Se's advertisement is not shot well and fails to show the expected effect after being released later, and cannot save ELYSEES's declining sales due to signing her as its spokesperson, then once the two-year endorsement contract expires, ELYSEES will no longer extend an olive branch to Jiang Se in the form of sports cars.
At the same time, Tao Cen will be the biggest beneficiary of ELYSEES's increase in spokespersons. She will prove her brand value with practical actions, and many big brand manufacturers will favor her much more.
She doesn't have to do anything to prove her status as China's number one female star.
On the contrary, if Jiang Se fails in this endorsement, it would be a huge embarrassment for her.
No matter what rumors there are that she is now qualified to be on par with Tao Cen, or that the company signed her with shares to retain her, market data cannot be falsified. That is the true reflection of the value of a female star, which is much more real than the views of a few people.
At the same time, if Jiang Se fails to prove her appeal, causing ELYSEES sports car to make a wrong decision and become a laughing stock, it will also affect Jiang Se's reputation. Things will not be over once her endorsement period is over. This lesson may stop many luxury brands that may cooperate with Jiang Se in the future.
Xia Chaoqun and Jiang Se both knew very well how serious the consequences would be.
Therefore, Jiang Se also attached great importance to the ELYSEES advertising shooting. After the shooting of "Xianyuan" was completed, she could have stayed in Suzhou for a few days to rest before leaving, but she still decided to go abroad in advance to communicate with ELYSEES's company first, and also to get familiar with the sports car that ELYSEES asked her to endorse this time.
As soon as Jiang Se arrived in Rome, he quickly got in touch with ELYSEES. After resting for an afternoon and adjusting to the time difference, Jiang Se was invited to visit ELYSEES' factory in Italy.
The new sports car launched by ELYSEES is named Leopard. It has not yet been officially sold to the public. The product's image and various data are currently kept confidential. Jiang Se is one of the first "visitors" to see Leopard.
Jiang Se did not have the same interest in sports cars as Pei Yi did when he was young. She had always been a very conventional person. When she was with Feng Nan, she had a driver to drive her around. She had ridden in Pei Yi's sports car a few times.
Most of her knowledge about sports cars came from Pei Yi, but the Leopard launched by ELYSEES quickly caught her attention at first sight.
This Leopard parked in the factory is all black with a smooth shape, like a leopard lurking in the dark. It is beautiful and elegant, and its appearance alone is enough to attract people's attention.
Under the light, the black car with an extremely elegant texture seems to have vitality. With every step, the gloss on the surface of the car body seems to come alive, with a flowing brilliance.
"This Leopard was just completed three months ago. It's the one you're going to use in this commercial shoot."
The person in charge of ELYSEES who received Jiang Se introduced with a smile, and signaled the assistant to unlock the car, and introduced the basic performance of Leopard to Jiang Se, "The Leopard model launched this time is mainly in four colors: black, white, yellow and red, but the company is currently promoting black."
Compared to bright colors, the most classic color of ELYSEES vehicles is actually black. After focusing on vehicles for many years, ELYSEES has reached the pinnacle in research on vehicle performance and all aspects. This black color alone gives a feeling that is not something that ordinary vehicles can produce.
The more ordinary it is, the harder it is to stand out. Jiang Se can imagine that after this Leopard is launched on the market, it will definitely attract the attention of a large number of sports car enthusiasts.
After the car door opened, the person in charge smiled and made a gesture of invitation to Jiang Se, indicating that Jiang Se should get in the car.
Compared with the exterior, the interior of the car not only allows people to enjoy the ultimate visual experience, but also takes into account the comfort of the driver after sitting in. As soon as Jiang Se sits on the high-quality seat, she feels as if her body is wrapped. Although the new car is not as good as before, it does not have a pungent smell. In the middle of the steering wheel is the silver special logo of the ELYSEES company. When the vehicle starts and the engine sounds, it feels like a beast roaring to break out of a cage.
Because the vehicle data was still confidential, Jiang Se simply familiarized himself with the car and did not try to drive it.
There is a reason why ELYSEES has launched the leopard as its latest limited edition in many years. With the product's appearance and performance greatly upgraded and breaking through traditional shackles, it is no wonder that they need to sign a new spokesperson to endorse this leopard.
It is estimated that what ELYSEES wants to express is the newly upgraded sports car and the new endorsement face to prove that ELYSEES' sports car has entered a new era.
This trip to the ELYSEES factory was accompanied by not only reception staff, automotive engineers and a large number of other personnel, but also the designer of the commercial. The two sides had initial contact and communication, and the subsequent cooperation will undoubtedly be much smoother.
Just like Jiang Se already had a rough idea in his mind after seeing the sports car, the advertising designer would also make some minor modifications to the advertising plan when he met Jiang Se in person.
The work team only knew Jiang Se from photos and videos before, but seeing him in person was a completely different experience.
After more than ten days of plan modification and discussion, during which time the ELYSEES team also delivered the customized clothes for Jiang Se, the official shooting time was set for October 6th, and the entire shooting process was expected to take thirty-five days.
The ELYSEES headquarters also attaches great importance to this shooting. The company's CEO Gallo will put down his current affairs and arrive in Italy two days before the shooting to supervise the progress of the advertisement throughout the process.
This undoubtedly brought exciting encouragement to the team, but also put a certain amount of pressure on the team. Jiang Se has been familiarizing himself with the ELYSEES car these days, and has even driven it for a trial in a small area of the factory.
As the shooting time approached, Jiang Se's assistants became a little nervous, but Jiang Se still maintained a good schedule and adjusted his state to cope with the upcoming shooting.
As time drew closer, Gallo, who had originally planned to arrive in Rome in early October, postponed the trip because of work.
Jiang Se shot advertising stills in the early stage and only shot videos in the later stage.
Jiang Se is already very experienced in taking still photos. In recent years, in addition to the advertising photos for the brands she endorses, she also has experience shooting covers of major magazines. Therefore, the early photos were taken very quickly and were completed in about half a month. The difficulty lies in the subsequent video shooting.
ELYSEES company had already made arrangements in advance for the filming of the commercial, and on the day of the filming, the roads had been cleared. When Jiang Se drove to the filming location, there were already many spectators standing on both sides of the road, stopping to watch the crew filming.
ELYSEES' sports cars are not only famous in China, but also well-known abroad. The Leopard sports car parked on the roadside caused many onlookers to exclaim and comment.
The makeup artist has already arrived in the makeshift dressing room. After a brief communication with the team, she starts by doing the base work for Jiang Se.
Halfway through the preparation, the photography assistant came in with an itinerary form, with a helpless look on his face, and communicated with the person in charge of the advertising shoot. While talking, he looked in Jiang Se's direction from time to time. The person in charge of the advertising shoot was named Michelle, a blonde woman about forty years old. Jiang Se had dealt with her several times after arriving in Italy. She was a woman with very strong working ability, but anger had already appeared on her face.
Jiang Se thought about it and motioned Mo Anqi to go over and ask if there was any unexpected situation at work today.
When Mo Anqi came over, Michelle forced herself to calm down. After learning the intention of Mo Anqi's coming over, she turned her head and smiled at Jiang Se, then pursed her lips, grabbed a handful of hair with both hands, and then sighed:
"Of the two translators originally scheduled, one was temporarily delayed due to an emergency at home, and the other was unable to participate in the filming of this advertisement due to an accident on the road."
She licked her lips, took a deep breath, and forced a smile:
"But I have already contacted the company, and they have arranged for another translator to come over. They will arrive in an hour at most."
Today was the first day of shooting, and because of such a small matter, it was obviously difficult for her to be in a good mood. Mo Anqi heard that ELYSEES' CEO Gallo would arrive in Rome this afternoon, but the CEO's schedule today did not include a visit to the site to check the shooting of the advertisement.
But even if Garo didn't come, such an incident would still be very disappointing. The person in charge of the company was already a little annoyed when he heard about it.
After Mo Anqi heard what she said, she asked:
"translate?"
"Yes!" Michelle nodded:
"Because most of the staff in the team are Italian, in order to avoid communication problems during the later filming, the company has equipped two translators."
Originally, two people were assigned to prepare for unexpected events, but unexpectedly, problems occurred with both of them at the same time, so more people had to be temporarily transferred from the shooting site.
As she spoke, she pointed at the photography assistant beside her, and the handsome young man spread his hands helplessly.
"If the staff is Italian, I don't think it matters whether there is an interpreter or not." Mo Anqi originally thought something had happened, but when she heard this, she couldn't help but laugh:
"Jiang has worked with Italian director Cesare before. During the filming of "Salvation of the Gods", he took the time to learn the Italian language. I think there should be no problem with general communication."
Jiang Se also specially prepared to review some professional automotive vocabulary after arriving in Rome, so no translation was actually required during the filming process.
But the people of ELYSEES didn't know that after Jiang Se came to Italy, when everyone communicated with her, they subconsciously sent staff who were fluent in English to communicate with her. When Michelle heard what Mo Anqi said, she paused and asked in disbelief:
"real?"
"Yes!"
Mo Anqi responded, and Michelle was half-believing and half-doubting, and signaled the photography assistant to try to have a simple communication with Jiang Se before the shooting.
The young man was a little skeptical at first, but after tentatively greeting Jiang Se, he quickly got a response from Jiang Se. Not only did he feel relieved, but even Michelle couldn't help but smile. (To be continued)